“Do you mean it? We can just leave and go wherever we want?” Melinda asks Stephanie excitedly.
“Holy shit, are we in a porno?” Dallas mutters next to me as he stares at Stephanie and Melinda while they kiss.
I start to laugh and then realize I’m still pissed at him. Dammit!
“I meant it, you know? I love you, Lorelei. Think with your heart and not your brain for once. You know damn well I was lying when I said all of those things to Ted,” Dallas whispers. “You didn’t need me to solve this case. You never needed me to look after you. You beat the shit out of your attacker last night and you solved this thing. I’m so fucking proud of you.”
I bite down on my lips and refuse to look at him. I know if I look at him, I’ll be lost.
“Put the gun down and we can leave right now,” Stephanie tells Melinda.
There’s a few feet separating Dallas and me right now and his gun is even farther away. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him slowly inching his way closer to where he kicked the gun.
Melinda suddenly looks over at him and the smile falls from her face.
“Were you going for your gun?” she asks.
Dallas just shrugs.
And then everything happens all at once. Melinda raises her gun, Dallas crouches down to spring across the floor to his own weapon, and I throw myself toward Dallas right as the thundering boom of a gun going off fills the quiet room.
My body slams into him and in his crouched position, he falls to the ground with me on top of him. Pain radiates through my body when we hit the floor and I know I must have jarred something loose from my scuffle with Melinda last night.
Dallas wraps his arms protectively around my body and rolls me onto my back, cradling me close to him as shouts fill the air and a stampede of police officers with guns drawn comes flying into the house.
Dallas lifts his head away from me and we both watch as Melinda and Stephanie are taken to the ground and handcuffed.
“You guys okay?” Ted asks as he flies into the room with his gun in front of him, heading over to the chaos across from us.
“Yep, we’re good. Lorelei here just saved my ass. I’m pretty sure that proves she loves me too,” Dallas tells him as he looks down at me and smiles.
I try to smile back, but I feel a little woozy. I must have slammed into Dallas a little too hard. The room is starting to spin and I blink quickly a few times to try and settle everything.
Dallas pulls away from me a little bit and I stare in shock at his shoulder.
“Oh, my God, you’re bleeding. You’ve been shot,” I mutter.
His face scrunches up in confusion and he looks down at himself. His gaze slowly makes its way back to me.
“That’s not my blood,” he whispers.
I watch as he quickly pushes himself off of me and his eyes widen in horror.
“TED! Get an ambulance here NOW!”
Dallas presses his hands to my shoulder and I yelp in pain.
“Ouch! Not so hard,” I complain, closing my eyes.
“No, no, no. Lorelei, open your eyes, baby. Stay with me.”
This feels like déjà vu. Hasn’t he said this to me before? It suddenly strikes me as funny and I start to laugh. I feel drunk again. But I’m pretty sure I’m not drunk.
“I’m right here; I’m not going anywhere,” I laugh. “I’m so tired. And my shoulder really hurts.”
I close my eyes again and hear a flurry of activity all around me. People shouting, footsteps pounding on the floor by my head, and Dallas whispering close to my ear.
“Come on, open your eyes and tell me I’m a pompous asshole. Tell me I’m a pigheaded jerk. I don’t care what you say, just talk to me. The ambulance is on its way.”
I don’t know what the ambulance is for, but Dallas makes me laugh.
“You’re so silly. I love you. You’re not that much of a pompous asshole,” I tell him.
I struggle to open my eyes and look up at him. The smile he gives me is tinged with sadness.
Shame on him for being sad when I just told him I love him.
CHAPTER 21
Wake up, sleepyhead.”
The voice breaks into my dream and I groan in frustration. I was having the most amazing dream. I solved the murder case and Dallas told me he loved me.
“Don’t wake her up. She’s going to be pissed when she finds out the hospital threw away her Jimmy Choo boots because they had blood on them.”
I groan again and try to roll over to go back to the dream but I can’t move. There’s something on my face that’s tickling my nose, and my arms feel like they’re tangled with rope.
“I’m pretty sure the hospital has already borne enough of your wrath for that oversight. I can’t believe you told that orderly he was a waste of space that wouldn’t know good shoes if they were shoved up his ass.”
I want to laugh at the absurdity of the conversation happening around me, but I feel like it would hurt to laugh, for some reason.
“He said those boots were ugly and the blood enhanced them. He’s lucky I didn’t shove my own foot up his ass. Jimmy Choos are never ugly.”
Figuring I may as well get it over with, I slowly blink open my eyes and wince at the bright light. Turning my head to the side, I see Kennedy and Paige sitting on chairs next to my bed. What are they doing in my room? And why is my room so bright?
“Where am I?”
The raspy groan of my own voice shocks me and I cough to try and clear it.
Paige immediately jumps up from her chair and rushes to the side of my bed. “I knew shoe talk would perk you right up. How do you feel?”
I swallow and clear my throat, pressing my palms down on the bed to push myself up. I yelp in pain as soon as I put weight on my left arm.
Kennedy gets up and hurries to my side, gently putting her hands on my chest and pushing me back down to the bed. “Nope, no getting up for you. Doctor’s orders. Are you in pain?”
Closing my eyes and trying to get comfortable, I take stock of my body. Every muscle is achy and my left shoulder feels like it was run through a meat grinder.
“My shoulder. What’s wrong with my shoulder?”
I look down and see a thick bandage wrapped around my shoulder and chest. Upon further inspection, I see an IV sticking out of my arm.
“Dude, you were shot. Do you remember anything from yesterday?” Kennedy asks, grabbing a cup of water with a straw in it and holding it to my lips.
Shot? She must be kidding.
I take a few long pulls on the straw and the cold water instantly soothes my scratchy throat.
Glancing around the room, I realize Dallas isn’t here. I remember hearing him and Ted talking about me at the police station. I remember my heart breaking into a million pieces.
“I remember watching two women kiss,” I mumble, letting my head flop back to the pillow.
“Kinky,” Kennedy replies with a laugh. “I’m guessing that would be Stephanie Covington and Melinda Banks, unless you’ve been watching some girl-on-girl porn lately.”
Paige smacks her in the arm. “Do you remember going to Stephanie’s house to confront her about killing Richard?”
Racking my brain, I try to make the memory surface. I have a vague recollection of standing in Stephanie’s living room, arguing with Dallas. And a gun pointed in his direction.
Like someone is flipping quickly through the pages of a book, everything rushes back in flashes of scenes.
“Did I really shove Dallas out of the way from being shot?” I ask.
“You did. You totally saved my ass.”
Glancing over to the door, I see Dallas standing there with two cups of coffee in his hands, looking haggard and exhausted.
Kennedy and Paige walk up to him and grab the cups from his hands.
“We’ll just leave you two alone. I’ll go get the nurse and tell her it’s time for some pain meds,” Paige tells me before she and Kennedy leave the room.
Dallas slides
his hands in his pockets and gives me a look. I think I told him I loved him after I’d been shot. Did it freak him out? I can’t believe I said that. I have a faint memory of him telling me the same thing, but I don’t know if it’s my mind playing tricks on me or not.
“How are you feeling?” he asks softly, moving closer to the bed.
“Like I’ve been shot,” I reply.
He chuckles, grabbing one of the empty chairs and sliding it closer to my bed before sitting down. I watch as he rests his elbows on the edge of the bed and folds his hands. I want him to touch me. Even though I’m confused about what all happened the day before, I feel cold in this bright room. He’s so close to me, but feels so far away.
“Do you remember what happened?” he asks after a few minutes of silence.
I shrug, but the motion hurts. I try to keep the pain off of my face but it’s no use. Dallas immediately reaches out and smoothes my hair off of my forehead. The feel of his warm hands against my skin makes the pain disappear.
“I remember bits and pieces. Paige and Kennedy told me a little bit,” I tell him, turning my face into his palm and sighing.
“You saw the ME’s report at the police station and immediately put two and two together from the particle traces on Richard’s clothing. I would have never caught that,” he admits. “Stephanie’s herbalist, Melinda, was afraid of Richard telling everyone about her and Stephanie’s relationship, so she killed him.”
“What about Richard and Miles having a relationship? Was any of that true?” I ask.
“Just rumors. Supposedly, Stephanie didn’t know anything about Melinda taking matters into her own hands, but that’s still under investigation.”
I nod and a heavy silence fills the room.
Dallas clears his throat and bites his lip with nervousness. “I know I said this yesterday, but I want to make sure this part is absolutely clear. I’m sorry about what you overheard at the police station. I swear to you, I didn’t mean a damn word of it. You’re better at this fucking job than I am. You have natural instincts that can’t be taught. The only reason I would even think about saying you can’t do this job on your own is because it kills me to think of something like this happening to you again,” Dallas admits. “When you slammed into me at Stephanie’s house and knocked me to the ground, all I could think about was how amazing you are.”
I remember watching Melinda aim the gun in Dallas’s direction and not even thinking about what I was going to do.
“I knew she was going to shoot you. All I could think about was getting you out of the way,” I tell him.
“Jesus, when you told me I was bleeding and I looked down and saw the bullet hole in your shoulder, I couldn’t breathe.”
He takes his hand off of my face and runs it through his hair. The short strands stand up in a mess and I realize he must have been doing that a lot recently.
“You kept closing your eyes and all I could do was sit there next to you, helpless, holding my hand to your shoulder. Promise me you’ll never throw yourself in front of another bullet again. I don’t know if my heart could take it.”
Speaking of his heart . . .
“Did you really tell me you love me, or did I imagine that?” I whisper.
He smiles, reaching over and grabbing the hand of my arm that isn’t bandaged and bringing it up to his mouth. He closes his eyes and kisses my hand.
He moves my palm to the side of his face and holds it in place before opening his eyes again and smiling at me. “You didn’t imagine it. I love you.”
I smile back at him and instinctively know he’s telling the truth. About everything—his conversation with Ted and how he feels about me.
“Did you really mean it when you told me you loved me back, or was it just because of the blood loss?”
Hearing the wariness in his voice surprises me. Dallas has always been such a force of nature, so strong and sure of himself. Seeing him vulnerable like this tugs on my heart.
“Don’t worry; the blood loss only gave me the courage to say it out loud,” I tell him with a smile.
He gets up from the chair and leans forward, pressing his lips to mine.
“You did it, baby. You solved a murder,” he tells me happily as he pulls away and looks at me.
I did, didn’t I? It feels good to know I made the right decision with my life for once. I took a gamble and it paid off. Sure, I got shot in the process, but I found Richard’s killer and fell in love all at the same time.
“Oh, your mom stopped by earlier. She apologized again for being a bitch to me at dinner. What is going on with her? She seems like a completely different person. It’s a little scary,” Dallas says.
The nurse walks in the room then and sticks a needle into my IV, letting me know the pain I’m feeling will be gone in seconds and to call her if I need anything.
“My mother is going through a phase,” I tell him with a smile as the nurse leaves the room, remembering the words my mother said to me about my hair at dinner.
“I think it’s more than a phase. She asked me if I had any cute single friends.” Dallas laughs with a shake of his head.
I feel the medicine coursing through my veins and a pleasant, numb feeling takes over my body. My head feels heavy and my eyes start to droop. All in all, getting shot was worth it.
“Sleep, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up. I love you,” Dallas whispers.
Letting my eyes close, I feel his lips against my cheek and I allow the pain medication to pull me under.
Before I doze off, I hear the faint sound of Dallas’s voice one more time.
“Don’t be mad, but I’m never letting you out of my sight, ever again,” he whispers.
Shame on him for thinking I’d be mad about that now.
EPILOGUE
Three months later . . .
Can you idiots all shut up for a minute; I need to make my speech,” Kennedy tells the room loudly.
Everyone stops talking and stares at her. She holds up her champagne glass and we all do the same. Just like usual, all of our friends and family are gathered in the office of Fool Me Once Investigations to toast to the end of another case.
Stephanie and Melinda were both arrested for the murder of Richard Covington, but Melinda immediately confessed to everything. She reiterated the fact that Stephanie knew nothing of her plans and that she was completely innocent. It took a few days for the police to verify her statements, and after that, Stephanie was free to go.
Melinda is still in jail awaiting trial and last I heard, Stephanie wasn’t planning on ever visiting her. Something about the drab color of the jail putting the third star of Jupiter in her energy field. Since the story of Richard’s murder being solved made the news, Stephanie had no choice but to come out of the closet. Unfortunately for Melinda, she’ll be waiting a long time for Stephanie to ever thank her for clearing her name. Stephanie is now dating a nutritionist from her gym named Wendy.
The board of directors from Richard’s company was so pleased with the speed with which the case was solved that it decided to foot the bill for the police department and upon my insistence, Dallas and I split the fee right down the middle.
Looking over at my friends, I see the diamond engagement ring sparkling on Kennedy’s finger as Griffin puts his arm around her shoulders. Paige and Matt have their arms around each other too. Kennedy’s brothers, Ted and Bobby, are sitting at Paige’s desk and mine with their feet on top of them. Kennedy’s father, Buddy, and her uncle Wally are bickering with each other in the corner, and Paige’s mom and Matt’s dad are holding hands, sitting on a couple of chairs by the front door.
My mom, wearing a pair of jeans and a Harvard Law sweatshirt, sits on the edge of Kennedy’s desk, well into her third glass of champagne and starting to get a little giggly.
And me, I’m sitting on Dallas’s lap with his arms wrapped firmly around me. I’m surrounded by the people I love and I couldn’t be happier.
“Congratulations to Lorele
i for proving she is the biggest badass out of all of us!” Kennedy announces with a smile.
Everyone laughs and lifts their glasses of champagne up a little higher.
“Who knew that almost a year ago when I met these two lightweights in a self-defense class, we would become best friends and open a pretty kick-ass private investigation firm?” Kennedy says.
“Hey, who are you calling lightweight?” Paige shouts. “I brought down a crime ring and Lorelei took a bullet. All you did was chase around a yappy dog and a freak who believes in aliens.”
Everyone laughs again and I feel Dallas clasp me tighter. I lean back against his chest and smile.
“Oh, shut up!” Kennedy tells Paige. “I just want to say I’m glad that I met both of you. Here’s to Fool Me Once Investigations—the best PI agency around.”
Everyone cheers and takes a sip of their champagne. The loud conversations and laughter start up again.
“How’s your shoulder?” Dallas asks.
I turn around on his lap to face him. “It’s good. It’s not sore right now.”
The bullet I took to the shoulder went clean through and luckily didn’t nick an artery. After my surgery, I spent three days in the hospital recuperating, and Dallas spent every single moment there with me. He also accompanied me to every physical therapy session and kept the promise he whispered to me in the hospital—he never lets me out of his sight. My shoulder still gives me a little bit of trouble every now and then, but it’s manageable. The doctor said I’ll be as good as new in no time.
“Good. Tomorrow we’re going to the shooting range. You’re going to learn how to really shoot a gun,” he tells me.
He’s been saying this to me ever since I got out of the hospital. I officially quit my job with the law firm and I’m now a full-time investigator. Dallas knows that eventually he won’t be able to shadow me everywhere, and he told me he’d feel much better about that if he knew I could protect myself even better.
I haven’t told him yet that I’m probably a better shot than he is. My father was an award-winning skeet shooter. He took me shooting every weekend for almost my entire life. Thinking about my father makes me a little sad. I haven’t spoken to him since that night at dinner. He sent flowers to the hospital, and when my mother sees him in passing in the driveway, she says he asks about me. I know he’s disappointed with the choices I’ve made and I hope that in time he’ll come around. My mother though—she’s a completely different person since she kicked my father out.